Columnist challenges analyst's estimate

In a recent
article, columnist Jack Lessenberry questioned the accuracy of the amount
of money a Mackinac Center for Public Policy study found the state could save
if state worker benefits were in line with the private sector.

James Hohman, fiscal policy analyst with the Mackinac Center
for Public Policy, wrote a report in 2009 wherein he calculated that bringing
public benefits of fulltime state and local government employees in line with
the private sector would save the state $5.7 billion.

Lessenberry, a lecturer at Wayne State University where he
teaches History and Law of Journalism, wrote: “His dollar figure is
considerably higher than other studies.” After Lessenberry’s column was
published, Hohman questioned what studies refuted his dollar amount. Hohman
said he knew of no other study that listed a dollar amount.

“He thinks the overcompensation of
public employees is a myth,” Hohman said about Lessenberry. “In this case, his
observations are simply inaccurate.”

In e-mails to the Mackinac Center, Lessenberry did not cite
any studies. Instead, Lessenberry wrote that he should have written “I did not
know any other economists who believe that anything like those savings are
realistic.”

Hohman said that although some have criticized the findings,
no one that he is aware of has produced an alternate study that shows his
numbers are not valid. Hohman has since written an analysis that walks readers
through how he came up with his figures: http://www.mackinac.org/14216